Sunday, October 9, 2016

5 minutes of productivity

We are the busiest generation in the history of the mankind. We never have enough time to complete our daily tasks, it's a struggle to balance our social life and careers/education. I might not be qualified enough to give you the perfect time management strategy, but I am in the process of discovering the truth behind productivity. :)
I like to think that every year I can become a little better, so I try to acquire good habits that influence my personal development. Believe me that it's not as hard as you think.
Do you have 5 spare minutes every day? Probably, yes. Then, you can try to do the following activities every day (or at least sometimes):

1. Meditation

It might sound weird and scary at the beginning, however, later you get used to it. You don't have to do anything complicated, just get comfortable and stop thinking (it's one of rare moments when lack of brain activity has beneficial influence on you). If you start researching this subject, you'll find a variety of methods. I've read a couple of those articles, but for two years I haven't changed my meditation routine:

get comfortable (lay/sit down, any position that you like)

create the mood (I like to light up the scented candles and turn on different nature sounds, like rain, ocean or forest)

Remember that you don't have to follow any specific instructions to have a pleasant experience, do what makes you happy and leaves a positive impact on your mind.

2. Reading

It's obvious, right? At the same time, we don't read for pleasure. Some time ago I noticed an interesting pattern - every day I read a lot, but this long list never includes books I like, it includes only financial reports, manuals, articles, laws, projects, plans etc. Though all of these materials are important, every human being needs inspiration. One of the greatest sources of inspiration are books.

Again, you don't have to read an entire chapter to grasp you daily dose of food for thought. For example, in 5 minutes I can read around 3-5 pages depending on the language and the difficulty of the text. In order to make this activity enjoyable take novels, biographies, journals etc. Take 5-10 minutes a day to read a couple of pages from your favourite books.

My favorites include (yes, these is the list of books I've actually read using this method):

Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan (I know it's not the easiest book to read, but for no reason french language and deeps spiritual quotes bring a sense of peace)

3. Learn new words

4. Work out/take a walk

5. Talk to your loved ones

...

I can continue this list up to the infinity. Just start using a couple of minutes a day to your benefit. It's not complicated. Every person can choose activities according to his/her priorities. In my case, at the moment it's reading and meditation. That's exactly why I described these two activities as an example of what you can do in 5 minutes.